Antiques

I suppose it depends what you are buying. We go to a lot of antiques and collectible auctions and there doesn’t seem to be much of a market for furniture, but a good bronze, or piece of art glass or studio pottery would find a place in most modern settings I would have thought. Trouble is, people have been brainwashed by too many tv makeover programmes to think that minimalist modern decor is the only way to go. Live with whatever style suits you and enjoy it.

The people I know who collect antiques tend to collect smaller items - Victorian fruit knives or propelling pencils, small items of silver or teapots. Young people won’t buy antique furniture as it doesn’t fit into smaller new houses. Also, the younger generations are renting and/ or moving more often. If you watch shows like Bargain Hunt there is quite a Market for smaller collectibles. There will always be a market for antiques of all types but not everyone has room for large pieces of furniture.

Chose things you like and don't worry about what's fashionable. If you need to buy furniture and like old "brown furniture" you will get very good value as it is generally well made and costs less because it is unfashionable.

The furniture which was new in the 1960s, is now very fashionable, referred to as "retro" and expensive to buy. If you bought new furniture when you were married and held onto it you would have been unfashionable in the 1980s and 1990s but back in fashion now.

This is good news as I will be looking for a chest of drawers for the hall when we have had new flooring put in.

We have some pieces of Georgian and Victorian furniture which I love but our children are totally uninterested in. They do, however, like the mid century stuff and bits of silver and china I have collected.

We were so happy to find our dining room table. It's not massive (would fit well in any modern flat) but is made of solid mahogany and is a really clever design - no one gets a leg! However, it's 200 years old. As we sit reading the papers at breakfast it's amazing to think of our counterparts back then reading the news of Waterloo and the many historical events over the years.

I love antiques and we always go in if we pass a shop. We also go to the large local fair which is held two or three times a year. We are avid fans of all the TV programs involving antiques.
As gd says there isn't much of a market for "brown furniture" as the dealers refer to it.

Our dining table is over 350 years old!
Personally I am not keen on too many large items of antique furniture as our house is too small.
As for Collectables, DH has hundreds. I wish he loved them enough to dust them! On average there are 12 items on each bookcase, mantle piece, chest of drawers etc. Nightmare.
Our children will not be interested in any of this stuff when we are no longer here.

Our house is tiny and I think the only ‘new’ item is the the TV. We do have a large dresser in the living room which we bought from a charity shop and this was probably made in the 70’s/80’s, but has a Georgian style. Other than that, I think most of our furniture comes from the 30’s or 40’s. We found a cracking 50’s kitchen cabinet a few months ago. It cost £65 (and £500 to have worktops and cupboards removed in order to fit it in)! I’d always wanted one, though and it looks good in my old-fashioned kitchen.

Mid century modern furniture GPlan, Ercol, Danish much more stylish and sought after than Victoriana. Also pottery, glass and textiles, lighting from the 1960s/70s. Look at any interiors magazine or have a look on eBay. If you have any of this hang onto it or sell it,

Our dining room is largely Mid Century which we refused to have in the 70s! Most of it is Danish but we have one wall of Ladderax shelving! I love it!! I just wish we had kept all the crockery, lamps, art work that we had when we first got married - it would be worth a fortune!!

I have a Georgian mahogany bow-fronted chest of drawers, originating in my ancestors' rectory in Leicestershire. It has come down to me through my maternal granny's family. It's worth no more than about 20% of what it was worth about 30-40 years ago and I've never had the heart to sell it. My GD is keen to inherit it and I hope that one day she will have a house that can accommodate it. Otherwise, there's a wallnut table that opens out to reveal a baize card-table surface. I have the usual odds and ends like a silver-plated tea service and some bits of china, but nothing worth a fortune!

Its not the financial value I'm interested in. I love the sense of history, of the other people who had them first. I like the feeling of continuity of seeing things my grandparents and their families had before me. Just romantic I suppose.
I should say that we do have more modern stuff too but its the old things I really value. DS loves them too but DD?- no chance!

I love the history of my stuff too Jane. Especially the stuff that has belonged to people in the family. I have vegetable dishes that were from DH's grandmother's farm which I love!

I think your friend is very wrong. We have a real eclectic mix of things in our house. New kitchen side by side with a Victorian dresser. I love rummaging in antique shops and have gone to a few auctions lately.
Why always buy brand new with no character, and the same as everyone else.,when you can have something interesting and different,?

I’ve just bought a lovely old bone china tea set, cups, saucers, side plates and two sandwich plates at a charity shop. I couldn’t in all conscience pay what they were asking so I added a bit more. I’ve see the teapot on EBay but they’re asking a fortune so will keep hunting. Also on EBay the matching 3-tier cake stand at a reasonable price.

Just the thing for English Afternoon Tea when the American relatives come visiting.

Jane I love old china too.

It is true that sixties and seventies items are very sought after now. We had a modern chrome and glass coffee table which we bought in Belgium in the early seventies. It had a panel of futuristic handmade tiles in the base. We always loved it but couldn’t find anywhere in our house to put it when we finally stopped moving around and came home, so it went into the attic. DH decided when we were moving to take it to the local auction house and see if they thought it would sell. It did, and for a ridiculously large amount of money. I was gobsmacked as I didn’t think it was worth much, if anything! The introduction of internet bidding has done much to increase auction prices these days.
When we came to look at this house with a view to buying it, I was surprised to see that the young couple who owned it had a suite of utility dining furniture similar to the one my mother and father had, post war. The rest of their furniture was very modern. I assumed it must have belonged to family, but who knows, but they were obviously very attached to it.

My ancestors were cabinet makers, I think this is why I love beautiful furniture and associated artefacts.
When we lived in a Victorian house we furnished it with period furniture. Unfortunately, it was at a time when that era was very fashionable and items were expensive!
We moved to a mid 20th century house and set about replacing the furniture.
Now we’re in a 1920s cottage, but the Ercol dining furniture seems to look ok and the few remaining Victorian bits fit as well.
I find browsing antiques centres irresistible.

I do love coloured glass and collect bits when I see something I like. Although I haven't bought anything for months now. It is all in an old fashioned china cabinet, that was Mum's. I had a fancy to 'upcycle' the cabinet, but can't quite pluck up the courage to paint and distress it. So it is still brown. Our dining room furniture is G-Plan and I am very fond of it, as it is not too big, but the table could be bigger when we have more people round to eat with us. In the hall, we have an old sideboard, Priory, that was MIL's, that is much coveted by a friend. I love all these, but don't know what will happen to it all when I shuffle off.

I'm not a fan of antiques, although I can appreciate why people like them and the history aspect is fascinating. However, our house is minimalistic, modern and uncluttered (not suggesting that anyone who has antiques has a cluttered home). None of our furniture is from Ikea though

When we were first married most of our furniture came flat packed and cheap from MFI, we hated it, but needs must!
However, as soon as we could afford to, we started replacing most things with antiques.
Our dining table is George lll c1760, oak with a tilt top, and used twice daily. I love the continuity aspect of using it....who else has sat at this table, what did they eat, what did they talk about etc?
We also have a lovely Victorian sideboard/credenza, five section Globe Wernicke barrister's bookcase, balloon back dining chairs, envelope top card table, display cabinets etc.
I loathe walking into a house that looks and feels just like every other, I march to the beat of my own drum!
We both love having 'different' things around us, we use our silver cutlery, cruets, sugar bowls, cream jugs etc. These things were made to be used, so we use them!
We have eclectic tastes (to put it mildly) DH collects Trench Art and items made from WWl plane propellers, whereas I love Art Nouveau glass, Daum, Gallé, R Lalique etc
It's not what anything's worth that interests us, it's either the history involved with the item, or that we love to look at it.
Just glancing around the dining room now, it's obvious how varied our tastes are.....bits of planes, shell casings, crystal, treen, tortoiseshell (they were all dead long before even my Grandmother was born), silver, paper cut silhouettes, and our DGS's favourite thing, a fibre optic lamp bought by me in the seventies! The lamp's pretty hideous really, and has been hidden in the loft for many years, but we thought DGS may like it......he loves it!

KatyK
I admit it, our house is cluttered

I love old china but I do wonder what will happen to it one day

Our furniture is not antique but perhaps it could be termed 'vintage' - like us really so it suits us.

Juggernaut Well I love to be honest I do like to be tidy and clutterfree but it has to go somewhere doesn't it? So nobody is allowed to see the small extension on the side of our house as it's full of stuff. I think it's what my mother used to call 'kippers and curtains'

Not I love to be honest - I meant I love to be tidy.